Visited February 2020.

I have visited only the northern part of the potential nominated area which is not included in Els’s review, but is mentioned in the short description of the site on UNESCO website, in the Erongo Region, north of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, southern and central coastal parts of Dorob National Park, National West Coastal Tourist Recreational Area and north-western edges of Namib-Naukluft National Park.

The most interesting areas from my point of view are Cape Cross Seal Reserve (part of the Skeleton Coast) where in January 1486 landed the first European team leaded by Diogo Cao on his way to India; he erected a padrao (stone pillar with a cross and royal coat of arms) on a hill by the coast which was to taken to Berlin in 1893; now we can see a copy of the original one; I do not know if there was a big colony of seals at that time, but today it is one of the largest colonies of brown Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) in the world. In the past the seals were hunting in here for trade and to protect the fish stock. You can imagine the smell and the noise!

The second place that I would recommend to see is the so-called Bird Island south of Swakopmund where the wooden platforms still can be seen; they were made as a link between the coast and the island where thousands of birds leave the guano behind. 

If you are in the area you can also visit the Bird Sanctuary in Walvis Bay (there’s no official entrance to the sanctuary, and the ponds are easier to reach from the main road behind the shopping mall Dunes). The place is also called Bird Paradise and, indeed, when I was there I saw lots of flamingos and cormorants; if you want to see more birds, go south of Walvis Bay (towards Sandwich harbour) to the lagoon and salt pans.

Well, the site as a whole seems very interesting and promising; I have not seen any African penguins (this time) in Namibia (but I’d seen in South Africa, north and south of Cape Town)…